Rapper Drake is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over his music video "What Did I Miss?", which allegedly copied a photograph by Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti. The complaint, filed in federal court on Wednesday, claims that the key sequence of the video lifted from Galimberti's 2020 book "The Ameriguns" and depicts men standing outside houses with firearms laid out around swimming pools.
Galimberti is best known for shooting a notorious Balenciaga campaign in 2022 that sparked outrage over its portrayal of children with sexually explicit objects. The controversy led to Galimberti's photography work being tainted, with many accusing him of glorifying pedophilia.
According to the lawsuit, Drake was trying to connect his feud with Kendrick Lamar to the Balenciaga controversy by using a similar visual motif in his music video. "Plaintiff was ultimately publicly vindicated in a defamation lawsuit abroad related to the false accusations arising from the Balenciaga advertisement," writes Galimberti's attorney. "Given Kendrick Lamar's lyrics...calling defendant Graham a pedophile and defendant Graham's now dismissed defamation lawsuit, on information and belief, defendant Graham sought to imply that he, like plaintiff, would be publicly exonerated."
Drake had previously filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over the false accusations surrounding his rap battle with Lamar. However, the lawsuit was dismissed last month by a federal judge, who ruled that lyrics in rap battles are hyperbole and not meant to imply facts.
The latest lawsuit seeks financial damages for Galimberti, as well as Republic Records and UMG, which own both Lamar's label Interscope Records and his label, Republic Records. The photographer is seeking to hold Drake and his company OVO Sounds accountable for what he describes as "both an egregious violation of federal law and an affront to plaintiff, his livelihood, his legacy and to photographers everywhere."
Galimberti is best known for shooting a notorious Balenciaga campaign in 2022 that sparked outrage over its portrayal of children with sexually explicit objects. The controversy led to Galimberti's photography work being tainted, with many accusing him of glorifying pedophilia.
According to the lawsuit, Drake was trying to connect his feud with Kendrick Lamar to the Balenciaga controversy by using a similar visual motif in his music video. "Plaintiff was ultimately publicly vindicated in a defamation lawsuit abroad related to the false accusations arising from the Balenciaga advertisement," writes Galimberti's attorney. "Given Kendrick Lamar's lyrics...calling defendant Graham a pedophile and defendant Graham's now dismissed defamation lawsuit, on information and belief, defendant Graham sought to imply that he, like plaintiff, would be publicly exonerated."
Drake had previously filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over the false accusations surrounding his rap battle with Lamar. However, the lawsuit was dismissed last month by a federal judge, who ruled that lyrics in rap battles are hyperbole and not meant to imply facts.
The latest lawsuit seeks financial damages for Galimberti, as well as Republic Records and UMG, which own both Lamar's label Interscope Records and his label, Republic Records. The photographer is seeking to hold Drake and his company OVO Sounds accountable for what he describes as "both an egregious violation of federal law and an affront to plaintiff, his livelihood, his legacy and to photographers everywhere."
the whole situation with drake and kendrick lamar and now gabriele galimberti is just so messy 
i don't even know what's going on anymore but it sounds like both sides are kinda at fault here like drake was trying to connect his feud with lamar to galimberti's photography work which already had a controversy attached to it and then the whole thing gets blown out of proportion 
i guess we'll just have to wait and see how this all plays out and hopefully it doesn't get too ugly 
I'm not surprised that Drake's team would try to capitalize on the Balenciaga controversy by using a similar visual motif in his music video. It's like they think they can ride the wave of outrage and attention without actually creating something original. 
This whole thing just feels like a bunch of people trying to profit from someone else's misfortune.
, trying too hard to be relevant 
. and gabriele galimberti, poor guy... he just wants to take pictures and show some art, but now he's got lawyers and lawsuits on his hands 
. can't we all just chill? 
drake is in trouble again! i feel bad for gabriele galimberti tho, i mean that balenciaga ad was super controversail 
anyway, this lawsuit is getting pretty heated and im worried for galimbertis fam 
cuz he's been thru a lot already. has anyone else seen the balenciaga ad 
before using it... or at least got permission from galimberti. this whole thing just seems like a mess 
and now galimberti's getting his revenge 
his photography work has been super tainted by the Balenciaga controversy and now he's getting backlash for suing Drake over this. I'm all for standing up for yourself but can't he just give credit where credit is due ?? 
.
I mean, come on, you're trying to connect the dots between your beef with Kendrick Lamar and some old photoshoot by Gabriele Galimberti? It's like, dude, you can't just use someone else's work as inspiration without giving them credit (or a decent Photoshop job 
). And poor Galimberti, I feel him. He's already dealing with the aftermath of that Balenciaga controversy, and now he gets to deal with people like Drake trying to profit off his hard work? Not cool, bro 
.
It's like, can't he come up with his own visual motif or something?
. Like, shouldn't we just give him space after that whole thing? 
. Like, can we just clarify who was defamed here? 
